AQU researcher elected to membership in Arab-German Academy

Dr. Ahmad Amro is the first Palestinian to gain membership in AGYA

JERUSALEM | In recognition of ‘an outstanding scientific project’, Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at Al-Quds University, Dr. Ahmad Amro, has recently gained membership in the Arab- German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA). Selected on the basis of rigorous assessment, the prominent Al-Quds University researcher, whose membership will extend over the next five years, is the first Palestinian to join the German Academy which focuses its work on the exchange of research experiences.

Commenting on the event of choosing him by the advisory board of the German Academy to become one of the 25 Arab and European researchers, Dr. Amro praised Al-Quds University for the big role it plays in providing unlimited and constant support to its team of researchers “who are contributing significantly to human knowledge”. He extended his gratitude to Al-Quds University’s leadership, represented by President Professor Imad Abu Kishek, for providing every opportunity to its research team to achieve and advance amid all exceptional challenges and obstacles Palestinian academia is facing. “Al-Quds University has created a thriving research ‘incubator’ to sponsor researchers and innovators from its diverse multidisciplinary faculties and centers,” noted Dr. Amro.  

Dr. Amro said that annexing him to the German Academy’s team of researchers was in light of a scientific project he had put forward earlier which revolves around the idea of creating an Arab German network to trace diseases inflecting refugees and tourists who are these days moving on a large scale across the different countries. “The proposed scientific project was highly welcomed by the academy's specialized committee which is supervised by 10 German and Arab institutions, including the German Ministry of Scientific Research, the Qatar Foundation (QF), the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science (KFAS), The Ziad Mikati Foundation (Lebanon), the Academy of Science and Government Research (Egypt), the Goethe Institute, the Research and Science Academy (Berlin), the DAAD Foundation (Germany), beside other institutions.

He added that being a member in the Germany-based academy would open new horizons for scientific research through close cooperation with Arab and German scientists and institutions, as well as for joint-research funding opportunities this academy is expected to provide to Al- Quds University. “It is, further, an opportunity to discuss today’s pressing scientific issues relating to different disciplines and encourage more scientific and cultural exchanges between European and Arab scientists and researchers that seek to solve the many problems facing the world,” ended Dr. Amro.

Dr. Ahmed Amro, who currently holds the position of Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Al-Quds University, is an associate Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Epidemiology and holds a PhD in the same field.

The Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities was founded at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Germany in 2013. According to Dr. Amro, it was the first dual academy to be created throughout the world and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development (QF).

The Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA) aims to share experiences in the field of scientific research, to support outstanding scientists and researchers, and to sponsor joint scientific projects of innovative ideas.  Besides, it encourages its members and researchers to communicate their voices through the dialogue and scientific and academic discussions it organizes on a regular basis.

Al-Quds University is a research intensive university based in Jerusalem, Palestine.  Established in the late 70’s, Al-Quds remains the only Arab university in the city of Jerusalem. It currently offers 105 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, taught through its fifteen degree-granting faculties and institutes.